David Brooks in the New York Times:
American girls are 14 percentage points more likely to be “school ready” than boys at age 5, controlling for parental characteristics. By high school, two-thirds of the students in the top 10 percent of the class, ranked by G.P.A., are girls, while roughly two-thirds of the students at the lowest decile are boys….
One in three American men with only a high school diploma — 10 million men — is now out of the labor force. The biggest drop in employment is among young men aged 25 to 34. Men who entered the workforce in 1983 will earn about 10 percent less in real terms in their lifetimes than those who started a generation earlier. Over the same period, women’s lifetime earnings have increased 33 percent. Pretty much all of the income gains that middle-class American families have enjoyed since 1970 are because of increases in women’s earnings.
Source: Richard V. Reeves, Of Boys and Men.
I read an article a while back that analyzed how many men are outside the labor force. They are presumable earning a living if they’re not living off family or a wife/girlfriend. I also read a suggestion that boy would fare better if they stayed out of kindergarten one additional year, whereas girls could start at age 5.
The deck is stacked even worse for Black boys. In 1935 when Social Security was passed the average lifespan for Black males was 51 years old. Richard Pryor died 9 days after turning 65. Walter Williams said, “The only official racism left in America is Social Security racism…. [[It’s a racial ripoff]]; they know I’m going to croak eight months before eligibility starts and the white guy is going to get at least eight years or so of benefits.” Senator Grassley wrote to me and said we have to increase taxes 28.1% for Social Security and push back the age of retirement again. He thanked me for supporting tax-free Private Savings Accounts (PSA) in REFORMING Social Security.